The Birth of the Cool Legacy, Part 2: Shorty Rogers

About eighteen months after the final Miles Davis Capitol Records nonet session, the next chapter in the “Birth of the Cool Legacy” was written when trumpeter/composer/arranger Shorty Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; 1924-1994) recorded six tracks that were produced by Gene Norman. Taking place on October 8, 1951, the session was Rogers’ first as a leader and became emblematic of the modern jazz sub-genre known as “West Coast Jazz.” A couple of years later, he recorded two more related sessions for RCA Victor, a label with which he would have a relationship lasting into the 1960s. And in 1955, a 3-track session for Atlantic Records again utilized a 4-brass/2-reed nonet.

A Massachusetts native, Rogers, made his first recording in February 1945 at the age of 20, in a septet led by drummer Cozy Cole and saxophonist Don Byas (Keynote/Mercury). He spent his early years mainly in the bands of Woody Herman (First and Second Herds) and Stan Kenton where his talents as an arranger were discovered and utilized. The repertoire of both of these popular and innovative ensembles included many of Rogers’ charts.

Having relocated to Los Angeles in 1947, Rogers set out on his own shortly before the October 1951 session and became a member of the Lighthouse All Stars, a group of musicians many of whom, like Rogers, had ties to the Kenton orchestra. The Lighthouse club was located in Hermosa Beach and bassist Howard Rumsey was the chief organizer of a vibrant scene that lasted over a decade and ultimately included a diverse group of artists from the burgeoning area. The venue is still active, hosting musical acts from a variety of genres.

Clearly influenced by the Davis recordings, Rogers assembled for the first session an octet that reproduced the earlier instrumentation with the exceptions that no trombone was present and baritone saxophone was replaced with tenor. The 1953 recordings for RCA Victor and the 1955 Atlantic session added the trombone (actually, Bob Enevoldsen’s valve trombone for the latter). Another difference was that only Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre supplied the arrangements whereas Davis had utilized five different sources.

Throughout his career, Rogers called his ensembles, both large and small, “The Giants.” But his brief ventures into the Rhythm & Blues genre in 1952, 1953 and 1958 for RCA were issued under “Boots Brown and His Blockbusters.”

Rogers’ association with RCA Victor lasted until 1961, with an interruption spanning 1955-56 when he made several recordings for Atlantic including the excellent quintet album The Swinging Mr. Rogers (Atlantic 1212) featuring Giuffre.

After returning to RCA Victor, Rogers produced a series of themed small group and big band albums:

Wherever the Five Winds Blow (LPM 1326)

The Big Shorty Rogers Express (LPM 1350)

Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers (LPM1428)

Portrait of Shorty (LPM 1561)

Gigi in Jazz (LPM 1896)

Afro Cuban Influence (LPM 1763)

Chances Are It Swings (LPM 1975)

Wizard of Oz (LPM 1997)

The Swingin’ Nutcracker (LPM 2110)

An Invisible Orchard (recorded 1961 but not released until 1997 on CD)

After a few sessions for Warner Brothers and Reprise in the early 1960s, Rogers retreated to the Hollywood studios for most of the 1960s and 1970s, not surfacing in a jazz context until 1983 when the Giants and later The Lighthouse All Stars were reassembled with several of the original cast members present. His last recording seems to be a live quintet appearance with saxophonist Bill Perkins in 1993. He died of cancer in 1994.

Repertoire

Rogers was a prolific writer both as a composer and arranger. But, whereas the Davis tracks were in many ways forward looking and sometimes challenging, Rogers’ seem much more straightforward and accessible. That is not meant as a criticism. The 17 titles he recorded with the octet and nonet between 1951 and 1955 are swinging, joyful, melodic and beautifully performed by an excellent cadre of musicians who seemed to be having a wonderful time. The orchestrations are superbly crafted and the instrumentation is cleverly exploited with contrapuntal sections heard on several titles.

Throughout his career, Davis, often prodded or inspired by his band members, was an innovator. Rogers, on the other hand, a great admirer of the Basie band, generally remained well within the jazz mainstream. (He recorded a big band tribute to Basie in 1954 issued as Shorty Rogers Courts the Count on RCA Victor.) In fact, some of the recordings he made with Teddy Charles (Prestige Records) and Shelly Manne (Contemporary Records) in 1953 and 1954 are more adventurous than those under consideration here.

Prestige PRLP 7028RCA Victor LJM 1004

Like most of the Davis Birth of the Cool repertoire, none of the 13 Rogers compositions or the 3 penned by Giuffre* for these sessions has risen to the status of jazz standard. In fact, many of them were never recorded again.

“Popo”

12-bar blues in B-flat major concert

Although sometimes described as a “new way of playing the blues,” this line is really pretty standard but beautifully harmonized for the ensemble. It became Rogers’ theme and was recorded by Art Pepper in 1957 for Pacific Jazz by an ensemble called the “Art Pepper Nine” with arrangements by Rogers. The alto saxophonist’s version was first released on a 1958 compilation, Jazz West Coast, Vol. 4 (World Pacific JWC 510).

World Pacific JWC 510

Another cover of “Popo” was an unusual note-for-note reproduction (solos included!) of the 1951 Rogers recording by saxophonist Dave Pell in 1959, issued on an album called The Big Small Bands (Capitol T 1309). Given the same treatment on this album were Davis’ “Boplicity” and Gerry Mulligan’s “Walking Shoes.” This controversial tribute approach was revived in 2014 when the collective band called Mostly Other People Do the Killing released a note-for-note reproduction of Davis’ iconic Kind of Blue album (Blue, Hot Cup Records CD 141).

Capitol T 1309

“Didi”

34-bar AA’BA’’ (8+8+8+10) structure in A-flat major concert

This tune was also recorded with basically the same Rogers arrangement by Art Pepper and the “Art Pepper Nine” in 1957 but not released until 1978 on Art Pepper Plays Shorty Rogers & Others (Pacific Jazz PJ-LA896-H).

Pacific Jazz PJ-LA896-H

“Four Mothers”

32-bar AABA structure in F major concert (*composed by Giuffre)

A follow-up to his famous “Four Brothers,” written for the Herman band, Giuffre’s tune has no other recordings.

“Sam and the Lady”

Altered 12-bar blues in B-flat major concert

No other recordings.

“Over the Rainbow”

32-bar AABA structure performed in A-flat major (although the usual key is E-flat major)

An Academy Award winner, this prominent member of the Great American Songbook has come a long way since being sung by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. The Jazz Discography lists over 1000 performances. A feature for Art Pepper that garnered much acclaim, the melody is never actually stated in this version although alluded to in the introduction and coda.

“Powder Puff”

32-bar AABA structure in F major concert

This attractive tune was also recorded at the 1957 “Art Pepper Nine” session and issued in 1978 on Art Pepper Plays Shorty Rogers & Others (Pacific Jazz PJ-LA896-H). Rogers himself recorded it in 1983 with an all-star nonet but this version only seems to have been issued in Japan (Re-Entry, Atlas LA27-1024 (LP); AC35-4 (CD)). The West Coast-based collective band Octobop covered it in 2006 (Very Early, Mystic Lane 030576).

Atlas (Jpn.) LA27-1024Mystic Lane 030576

“The Pesky Serpent”

24-bar AA’ (12+12) structure in G-flat major concert; this tune has a blues form, but the chord changes have little resemblance to the blues. (*composed by Giuffre)

No other recordings.

“Bunny”

32-bar AABA structure in G major concert

Like “Over the Rainbow,” this pretty ballad is a feature for Art Pepper who covered it in 1957 on his own nonet session. Pepper’s version was released in 1959 on The Sound of Big Band Jazz in Hi-Fi (World Pacific WP 1257). Rogers also revisited this tune on his 1983 Re-Entry album.

World Pacific WP 1257

“Pirouette”

32-bar AABA structure in A-flat major concert

Chet Baker and The Lighthouse All-Stars recorded a live version of this tune about 9 months after Rogers’ studio session (Witch Doctor, Contemporary C 7649) and it was reworked in a trio format by the Italian drummer Gianmarco Lanza in 2001 on an album called The Revival of West Coast Jazz (Splasc(h) (It.) CDH 762-2). It also caught the attention of German-Hungarian clarinetist Lajos Dudas who recorded it for his 2000 Talk of the Town CD (Double Moon (Ger.) CHRDM 71012).

Contemporary C 7649

“Morpo”

12-bar blues in B-flat major concert

The last of the three (possibly four if “The Pesky Serpent” is included) blues from these Rogers sessions does not seem to have been recorded again although The Jazz Discography lists a couple of obscure sessions where a “Morpo” is found. Neither could be confirmed as being Rogers’ composition.

“Diablo’s Dance”

A feature for pianist Hampton Hawes, this piece has a 74-bar (14+4+14+4+16+4+14+4) structure as performed by the ensemble. Solos are on a 64-bar (16X4) form. It is in the key of F major concert.

Pianist Pete Jolly recorded this piece in 1955 (Duo, Trio, Quartet, RCA Victor LPM 1125) and again, forty years later (Yeah!, V.S.O.P. 98CD). It is also part of the 1957 “Art Pepper Nine” session and fairly recent discoveries by Resonance Records reveal that guitarist Wes Montgomery had covered it in 1957 or 1958 in a quartet format (Echoes of Indiana Avenue, Resonance HCD 2011).

Of the fourteen musicians who participated in the four Rogers octet/nonet sessions between 1951 and 1955, all except pianist Hampton Hawes had big band experience and many, like the leader, were members of the Kenton orchestra. Most were also associated with the Lighthouse All Stars. The only California natives were Pepper, Hawes, Sarmento and Mondragon. Common to all sessions were Giuffre, French horn player John Graas and drummer Shelly Manne who, along with Pepper, were frequent collaborators of Rogers and major contributors to the West Coast Jazz phenomenon of the 1950s and beyond. (Rogers, Giuffre and Graas were all mentored by the noted composer and educator Wesley LaViolette (1894-1978)). The following table summarizes the recording overlap of Rogers with the sidemen. As can be seen, some of the collaborations go back to the 1940s.

Life Span

Instrument(s) on these sessions

Recordings with Rogers

Milt Bernhart

1926-2004

trombone

1950-1967

Bob Enevoldsen

1920-2005

valve trombone

1952-1964, 1991

John Graas

1917-1962

French horn

1950-1956

Gene Englund

unknown

tuba

1950-1953

Paul Sarmento

1919-2008

tuba

1953-1956

Art Pepper

1925-1982

alto saxophone

1950-1960

Bud Shank

1926-2009

alto saxophone

1950-1969, 1983-1992

Jimmy Giuffre

1921-2008

tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet

1947-1960, 1983

Hampton Hawes

1928-1977

piano

1951-1953

Lou Levy

1928-2001

piano

1948-1964

Don Bagley

1927-2012

bass

1950-1953, 1963

Joe Mondragon

1920-1987

bass

1946-1962

Ralph Pena

1927-1969

bass

1954-1958

Shelly Manne

1920-1984

drums

1945-1963, 1983

As a soloist, Rogers exhibited a style that was fluent and recognizable, but he was overshadowed by his contemporaries, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, Art Farmer and by 1954, a resurgent Miles Davis, all of whom were making huge waves at the time. In this author’s opinion, his best work is found on the Teddy Charles 1953 Prestige recordings where some very challenging material was explored, and his first album for Atlantic, The Swinging Mr. Rogers. Rogers was a proponent of the flugelhorn, recording on that instrument as early as 1953.

Besides Rogers, the main soloists are Pepper, Giuffre and Hawes, all of whom went on to stardom in their own right with these recordings providing early evidence of their abilities. The careers of both Pepper and Hawes were significantly and negatively impacted by drug abuse and associated incarcerations vividly portrayed in their autobiographies “Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper” by Art and Laurie Pepper (Schirmer Books, New York, 1979) and “Raise Up Off Me: A Portrait of Hampton Hawes” by Hampton Hawes and Don Asher (Thunder’s Mouth Press, New York, 1974).

A fresh and unique voice, Art Pepper’s alto saxophone approach was more Lester Young than Charlie Parker. His first recordings as a leader took place in 1952 with Hawes on piano and garnered considerable attention at a time when the bebop of the 1940s was in decline and critics were looking for something new. In this author’s opinion, his finest work is found on the 1957 Contemporary Records album Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section where he is backed by Miles Davis’ stellar rhythm section made up of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. A close second is Art Pepper+Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics recorded in 1959 for the same label with outstanding arrangements by Marty Paich.

Contemporary S 7532Contemporary M 3568

Pepper recorded prolifically into 1982, often on the Galaxy label, fitting comfortably into the hard bop movement of the later 1950s and early 1960s and beyond, his style evolving with the times and always accompanied by the finest musicians available including pianists George Cables and Milcho Leviev, bassists Bob Magnusson and Tony Dumas and drummers Billy Higgins and Carl Burnett. A number of live recordings have been issued by the Widow’s Taste label managed by his widow, Laurie Pepper.

Although well known for his composition “Four Brothers” written for Woody Herman’s Second Herd, Jimmy Giuffre was pushing the boundaries of jazz from his first recording as a leader in 1954 for Capitol Records. His preferred instruments were tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet, the latter often played with a unique, breathy quality. By 1956, he had settled on a trio format, the first members of which were guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ralph Pena which ensemble recorded The Jimmy Giuffre 3 for Atlantic Records. Bass was replaced with Bob Brookmeyer’s valve trombone in 1958 for the Atlantic albums Trav’lin’ Light, Western Suite and The Four Brothers Sound.

Capitol H549Atlantic 1254Atlantic 1282Atlantic 1330Atlantic 1295

By 1961, Giuffre had moved into more avant garde territory with a trio including pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow and as time went on, his inclinations were clearly to explore musical avenues quite distinct from the straight ahead playing and writing found on the Rogers sessions under consideration here.

The only African-American musician to participate in the Rogers octet/nonet sessions, pianist Hampton Hawes, was part of the Central Avenue scene in Los Angeles where, at an early age, he performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Howard McGhee, Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, Teddy Edwards, Sonny Criss, Art and Addison Farmer and many more. The October 8, 1951 Capitol session with Rogers along with the September 9, 1952 Wardell Gray date for Prestige, where the classic “Farmer’s Market” was first recorded, gave the pianist important exposure. But it would be his recordings for Contemporary Records starting in 1955 that really demonstrated Hawes’ unrelenting drive and imagination, characteristics that notably enhanced the Rogers sessions. Among the albums Hawes issued during 1955-1956 are The Trio Vols. 1 & 2, Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes all with bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Chuck Thompson and All Night Session Vols. 1-3 with Jim Hall, Mitchell and drummer Bruz Freeman. 1958 brought two more gems, Four! with Barney Kessel, Mitchell and Manne and For Real with tenor saxophonist Harold Land, bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Frank Butler.

Although Hawes made many recordings, his output was limited by time spent in prison for drug offenses. In fact, he was off the scene from the end of 1958 until President John F. Kennedy granted him executive clemency in August of 1963. From 1964 until his death in 1977, he was active not only in the USA but also in Europe and Japan.

The under-appreciated trombonist Milt Bernhart, who contributes five exuberant solos to the 1953 nonet recordings, was a big band veteran and mostly a sideman throughout his long career on the road and in the studios. As a leader, he recorded four tracks for RCA Victor in 1954 with Rogers, Giuffre and Bud Shank in the octet. These were only issued originally on an extended play single. In 1955, for the same label, Bernhart led brass ensembles producing tracks that were issued on an LP entitled Modern Brass. All of the RCA material has been reissued by Fresh Sound but The Sound of Bernhart on the Decca label (1958) seems never to have been reissued.

RCA Victor EPA-598RCA Victor LPM 1123Decca 9214

The French horn has had a rather uneasy relationship with jazz, especially as a solo instrument for improvising. But in the early 1950s, Julius Watkins in New York City and John Graas in Los Angeles were both attempting to bring the horn into the jazz mainstream. After years in the bands of Claude Thornhill, Tex Beneke and Stan Kenton, Graas cut quite a swath across the West Coast Jazz landscape as a composer, arranger and soloist during the period 1951-1961, starting with the October 8, 1951 Rogers session. His first session as a leader resulted in the album French Horn Jazz (1953) issued on the Trend label and Rogers was part of the septet. Then, starting in 1955, he recorded a series of albums for Decca: Jazz-Lab-1, Jazz Lab 2, Jazzmantics, Jazz Studio 2 and Jazz Studio 3 as well as one on EmArcy entitled Coup de Graas all of which, like Rogers’ work, became closely associated with and representative of the West Coast Jazz phenomenon.

Recorded in June 1954, Jazz Studio 2 is a particularly appealing album featuring a nonet including trumpeter Don Fagerquist, Bernhart, alto saxophonist Herb Geller, Giuffre, guitarist Howard Roberts, pianist/arranger Marty Paich, bassist Curtis Counce and drummer Larry Bunker. The arrangements were provided by Paich and Graas, the latter notably inserting a fugue into his composition “Graas Point.” There are also two magnificent ballad performances, “Laura” and “Darn that Dream.”

Although a fine, classically trained musician, it is this author’s opinion that Graas never really mastered the jazz concept and his solos often seem awkward, un-swinging and pale in comparison to those of Watkins, David Amram and Willie Ruff who were also active during this period. He has two solo opportunities on the sessions under discussion here, on the blues “Morpo” recorded January 15, 1953 and “Baklava Bridge” from the December 9, 1955 Atlantic session.

A review of Capitol H 294 (Modern Sounds; 1952) in Down Beat Magazine said the following about the music recorded at the October 8, 1951 session:

The spirit of the band is great, there’s some excellent solo work – especially from Shorty and Art – but the total effect is that of a watered-down Miles Davis group with little evidence of originality in composition and conception.

Two years later, a Down Beat review of RCA Victor LPM 3137 (Shorty Rogers and His Giants; 1953) was similar in tone:

Shorty in particular and his giants in general play with a high level of musicianship, but much of the writing is stillborn. A few make it[…]Most of the framework, though, is like the conversation at a better-than-average cocktail party. Everybody’s cool and clever, but a draught of fresh air or water would be quite welcome.

While these comments are inconsistent with the important role that Rogers’ 1951-1955 recordings would play in the development of the West Coast Jazz movement, they nonetheless pinpoint the difficulty he faced in attempting to build on the Davis Birth of the Cool precedent. Basically, he was incorporating a certain instrumentation into original arrangements that were craftsman-like and eminently listenable, but seem to lack the impact and novelty of the earlier model.

In the next installment, we’ll have a look at the Gerry Mulligan 1953 tentet recordings for Capitol Records.